• kismet •

Notes: Today's Good Word is simply prettier than fatalism or predestination, though it means pretty much the same: some external force controls our destiny. Actual story: My sister has a fear of flying. Her husband, defending her from the ribbing she was receiving (again) at the Thanksgiving table, suggested kismet to her, "If it's your time to go, you'll go no matter where you are." My father thought a while, then put up the best defense of my sister's position: "What if it's the pilot's time to go?" Kismet has no derivational family; it is a lexical orphan.

In Play: We often think of how we met our future spouses in terms of kismet (good or bad), but none so much as Jack Winter in his famous New Yorker article of 1994, "How I Met My Wife". It must have been kismet that the music of Alexander Borodin fell upon the ears of Edwin Lester, director of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, and made him think it would make a good musical comedy, called Kismet (1953).

Word History: Today's Good Word was taken from Turkish kismet from Persian qismat from Arabic qisma(t) "portion, lot, fate". The root of this word comes from the root of qasama "he divided". The meaning of this word wandered from "to divide" to "practice divination", while the noun from this word qisma(t), moved on from "divination" to "kismet". The word is used in the Muslim world now in the sense of "luck". The same root descended to Modern Hebrew, another Semitic language, as qosem "magic". (It was sheer kismet that James Bish and his affectionate wife Eileen couldn't agree on the meaning of today's Good Word, and turned to Dr. Goodword for help.)

There is, or used to be, a minor controversy about what the dying Admiral Nelson is supposed to have said to Captain Thomas Hardy after the Battle of Trafalger (1805). Mortally wounded, and being supported by Hardy, Nelson reportedly said, "Kiss me, Hardy." This was later bowdlerised - in a no doubt more prurient age - to "Kismet, Hardy." This has been debunked on historico/linguistic grounds since the earliest reported use of 'kismet' in English is 1849. Whatever Nelson said, Hardy did indeed kiss him.

Pattie: you haven't been posting lately. You have been missed. I'm glad you are back. The Nelson story is, of course, not the origin of kismet. Nelson certainly died on the HMS Victory that day. Hardy was the Captain of the ship. During their deathbed conversation, Hardy kissed him on the cheek. It is a stirring experience to visit the HMS Victory. I have done so several times.

Perry: I do not think Buddhists or Hindus are much concerned about destiny. Believing in the wheel of life pretty much rules that out. The three Abrahamic religions concern themselves with determinism and free will along with most modern philosophers who are "scientific determinists". Determinism is the fad of the day. I root for free will. The Good Doctor says kismet means luck, but I think Abrahamic religionists mean destiny or determinism when they use the word. I do not believe in luck, determinism or predestination, as it is commonly understood. Using the words luck and kismet when one means what happens when you win or lose the lottery is fair game for casual conversation. Just don't get too philosophical about it.

G. K. Chesterton, one of my heroes, wrote of determinism, "I regret that I cannot do my duty as a true modern, by cursing everybody who made me whatever I am. I am not clear about what that is; but I am pretty sure that most of it is my own fault.”

call_copse: Did you really? Since your prediction was also deterministic how did you know whether you were destined to get it right or wrong? I know I am pretty predictable, kismet or not.

Perry: Only Hindus and Buddhists really understand what Karma means. The western mind is not properly equipped. In my imperfect understanding of Hinduism and Buddhism, karma is the curse of having to remain on the wheel of life for eternity. It is the duty of the devout to break their own karma, thus escaping the wheel of life and be transported to Nirvana.

But as I hear it used, or read it, the two are not synonyms but overlap in that an outside force, power, coincidence, or the like is thought to control our destiny - at least partially. Sometimes someone arrives at a point in life, good or bad, and ascribes it to either kismet or karma. Either the gods willed it or it was inevitable in my nature.

Slava: Cute definitions. I don't understand them, but they are still catchy. To me, luck is something like a random number generator ( an oxymoron but still useful). Things happen and, since one doesn't know why, it is called luck. Kismet is fate and it never happens.